


Maybe

by cxsmicdxst



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Birthday, Birthday Party, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 17:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11605170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cxsmicdxst/pseuds/cxsmicdxst
Summary: There's only one day in the year that Lance McClain waits for. The one day that always meant everything to him.Will the rest of the Voltron crew make him feel at home again?Maybe.





	Maybe

He had been counting the days ever since they boarded the ship. He had been keeping a close eye on the days that passed by, each of them determined by the time he went to sleep and the time he woke up, but still, time passed, and today was the day that he finally completed another cycle, another year of existence.  
Feeling giddy all of a sudden as he woke up and realized it was his birthday, Lance got out of bed with the biggest smile and, as he got ready, he practised in front of the mirror how he would fake being surprised. “Oh, Allura, I knew you wouldn’t forget,” he told his reflection with flirty eyes, and once he felt everything was good to go, he put on his clothes and left his room, waiting for someone to jump at him as soon as he walked through the door.  
But the surprise was real, as no one seemed to be there.  
Quickly, he made his way towards Pidge's room, hoping to find someone there. Knocking on the door a couple times, he gave up when no one replied, and he got the same result from Hunk’s. The thought that they might've been planning something in secret crossed his mind, but the sensation that his own best friends didn’t even leave a note made it seem as if they had forgotten about that particular day, and he felt his stomach drop a little.  
Walking towards the battling deck, he saw Keith and Shiro were inside, fighting some of the sparring bots and defeating them in no time; they both looked sweaty and tired, as if they had been practising for a while now. He cleared his throat and tried hard to let the bit of sadness disappear. “Hey, guys,” Lance said cheerfully as he entered the room, and the two paladins muttered a small greeting as they took the last bot down. He expected them to remember. “Wow, were you awake all night? I’m sure you weren’t just exercising.”  
Batting his eyelashes, he expected at least one of them to remember, but all he got were confused stares. Keith was the first one to speak. “Um, no, we woke up about two or three vargas ago and Allura told us there was a new implementation to the bots that she picked up from the last fight, so we came to test it. Why do you look so happy though? Had a nice dream or something?”  
“Kind of; I can’t remember it anymore though.” Now it was almost impossible to keep the bad feelings away, and even with a smile on his face he clenched his fists and crossed his arms, he managed to add, “Where are Hunk and Pidge? I can’t find them, are they with Allura?”  
“Oh, they went on a mission with Coran,” Shiro said with a big smile; oh, so you’re happy about that, Lance couldn’t help but think. “They said they needed to gather more scaultrite just in case something happens again. I think Allura is on the bridge if you need her.”  
Thanking them even though he didn’t need to, he thanked them and left the room, looking down with his hands on his pockets. He couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t going back to his room, lying in bed for the rest of the day and, if anyone asked for him, he’d tell them he was worn out from the latest fight against Zarkon.  
Because no one had to remember, right? Maybe it wasn’t important to everyone else, or maybe there were just other things that needed to be taken care of first, but no matter how he saw it, the fact was that Lance felt alone was enough to bring all of his earlier happiness to the ground. He remembered Earth, the birthdays he used to spend with his whole family, and the letters they sent to him while he was in the Garrison. He hoped that they would send one this time too, even if he wasn’t able to read it.  
The image was still fresh in his mind when, minutes later, he returned to his room, lying on his bed as soon as he saw it. “New plan,” he told himself out loud, “I won’t wait for anyone to say something. No more false hopes.” No matter what, he wouldn’t let them see him like that; he felt pathetic.  
He didn’t need anyone to remember... Did he?  
Maybe he was indeed the seventh wheel.  
But he couldn’t bring himself to feel hurt by that at that moment.  
Lance wasn’t sure how much time passed since he returned, but when he woke up again the pillow was wet, as if he had shed a few tears on his sleep. He was about to go to the kitchen to get something to eat when someone started to pound on his door loudly. “Lance, wake up!” Pidge shouted from the other side. She sounded worried, or maybe scared, but he couldn’t decide which one fit the situation better. “There’s been an issue on the bridge, Allura needs us; everyone’s already there, please hurry!” and then she ran off, her steps quick.  
His eyes opened wide, he thought that the day couldn’t get any worse than that. Leaving the room without hesitation and putting on his armour, grabbing his Bayard on the way as fast as he could, he prepared himself for the worst case scenario, an infiltration to the castle’s system or maybe even an immediate attack by the Galra, each image filling his head and making him even angrier.  
He stopped right in front of the bridge’s door, waiting to see if he heard anything coming from the other side, but as nothing came through, he entered the room, only to be greeted by a sudden, collective shout.  
“Happy birthday!”  
Everyone, the other paladins, Allura, Coran, even the mice, they were all gathered there, and the bridge was decorated with small coloured lights that made it seem like there were fireflies all over. In the middle of the group was Hunk, holding a big blue cake with the words Best Sharpshooter written on it.  
He approached them, his lips slightly parted; struggling to understand the situation he looked around, taking in the details of the little party they had put together for him. “Dios mío, esto es increíble,” he could only whisper, not even realizing he was speaking Spanish. His voice got louder as he added, “You guys... didn’t forget?” he muttered, not really believing his eyes. “You did this for me?”  
“Are you serious?” Hunk replied with a big smile as he came closer to his friend, “How could we forget about our precious blue paladin's big day? Don’t be silly, man, we wouldn’t miss this chance,” the yellow paladin added as he put the cake on Lance’s hands. “It was kind of hard to try to find candles on space so you’ll have to pretend they’re there. Happy birthday, Lance.”  
The smile returned to his face as he closed his eyes and made his wish, making sure to blow softly over the cake after that. Clapping and cheering filled the room as he gave the cake back to Hunk, who placed it on top of the little table there, before he found himself being enveloped in a tight group hug for a moment. It wasn’t until they all pulled away that he noticed the happy tears threatening to fall.  
“So, what did you wish for?” Allura asked as she flashed him the brightest smile he had ever seen, and he returned it with genuine joy finding its way back into his heart. The mice seemed to be smiling too. “Love? Defeating Zarkon? The end of the Galra empire?”  
“Nope, I won’t tell, princess,” he said, “otherwise it won’t come true.”  
Before she could protest, Keith made his way towards them, holding two plates with big slices of cake on each of them. “Here,” he said as he handed them the food, “Hunk visited, like, four different planets until he found the right ingredients for this. It’s really good, it tastes just like vanilla; you’ll like it.”  
“Thank you Keith, my man,” Lance joked as he put an arm around the other guy’s shoulders. “I guess you already know my taste.” Keith shook his head in playful disapproval of the joke before the three of them joined the others for eating, while Pidge talked about the troubles she had to go through to find small lights that could work with the power of the castle, and Shiro talked about how hard it had been for him not to say a thing about the whole plan and avoid congratulating Lance earlier; he knew that, maybe for a really long, long time, he wouldn’t stop being amazed at the lengths his friends would go just to do something like this for him.  
That same night, before he fell asleep, he thought back on the wish he had made: I wish for this family to last forever too.  
Maybe he didn’t need to wish for that.  
Maybe his wish had been granted from the very beginning.


End file.
